Pages

Sunday, October 19, 2014

I remember when I started my blog for the first time.I was so excited to hurry up and create content to share.I had lists upon lists of ideas and projects I planned on creating.In my pursuit of blogger greatness,I forgot to ask myself some very important questions.

The 1st question is pretty obvious but that doesn't make it any less important:what do you want your readers to know about you?That "About Me" section is pretty critical.You have to figure out the best way to represent yourself in a few sentences that makes readers feel welcome.Do not neglect the power of the "About Me" section.

The 2nd question is, from what position do you want to blog?There are various ways to blog,from co-blogging with multiple people or anonymously blogging giving no information or background on yourself and simply creating faceless,nameless content.Determine the kind of blogger you want to be by figuring out what personally suits you best.

The 3rd question is what kind of blogger voice do you want to use?Do you want your voice to be laidback and casual?Perhaps a sophisticated voice would be better if your blogging purpose is to inform and educate.Determing your own particular voice helps make the message of your blog clear and creates easily digestible content for your readers.

Hopefully this post helps the next person who suddenly develops an interest in the blogging world.Feel free to leave a comment below about any questions you wished you asked yourself when you first started blogging.

I often find the biggest issue for a lot of people when it comes to working is that they're putting forth effort without an end goal.When I work I have to keep in mind what I'm working for,it helps me stay motivated.If I was to begin a project that lacked purpose(which I've done in the past),the project always loses steam and I end up quitting.

You might be thinking "who starts a project without a goal in the first place?".Believe it or not there are people out there like me,who get the idea before the purpose of the idea.I might think about starting a new blog series because its creative and fun. All of the in-depth details for the project's purpose gets blurred over in the excitement of starting something new.

Instead of flying off with the enthusiasm of starting a new project being used as my motivation,I decided to write up end goals for everything I do.One of the best ways for me to identify my goals is to start asking myself questions like thenones below:

What do you like about this project?

Why have you been drawn to this project?

What will this project leave behind?

Who is this project targetting?

What effect will this project have on other people?

Is the purpose of this project to entertain,inform,persuade or all 3?

These are just a few starter questions to consider before venturing out on your next plan for greatness.Let me know in the comments below what questions your consider before starting your next big thing.

Friday, October 17, 2014

I always get super motivated and inspired by people who take huge chances and don't fall flat on their face.I'd like to be one of those success stories someday.I can see it now, The Girl Who Packed Her Bags With 100 Dollars to Her Name, Now World's First Zillionaire it's a lengthy headline, but I'll edit it later.The reality of the situation is that there are a lot of success stories that involve taking huge risks and also involve falling flat on your face.How can you be successful and fall flat on your face at the same time?Easy actually, I find that most success stories involve people who failed miserably, but their drive to keep going is what pushed them to the top.

Reading up on the stories of success that happen over night are fun to amuse yourself with but you have to be prepared for the consequences if your story involves plot twists.Plot twists can be good and can be seemingly bad.A plot twist I faced this year was getting into the school of my choice....but not being able to afford it.Instead of running off into a self pitying tirade, I decided to head to my local community college.

The good in my educational plot twist is now I can at least get my Associates degree at my current community college so I have something to show for my efforts pretty soon.The situation came off seemingly dim but is unexpectedly working itself out as we speak.

Whether your plot twists are good or bad, whether your success is overnight or over several years, ultimately, your drive and perception is what determines your success and nothing else.You have to see your success and keep pursuing it, that's how you get there.

Thursday, October 16, 2014

I have committed multiple blogger bloopers in the past that made me question my whole position in this field due to the sheer amount of embarrassment, allow me to share them with you:

I scheduled a blog link to be tweeted multiple times, but the tweet itself had a spelling error.Not only did I share with the world my poor spelling errors but I shared them at multiple times of the day....

Accidentally double posting on the FBL Facebook page almost made me delete my FB profile altogether.My computer was having a buffering issue so I hit enter one too many times out of impatience and shared a link 4 times! I kept trying to delete but my computer was running slow and I'm sure Jess(the creator of the group) thinks I'm a spam blogger now :(

Sharing the wrong picture on the wrong profile has ruined several selfie celebrations.I remember taking a cute selfie and going to post it on my personal Instagram page only to put it on my fashion blog's page.The worse part about sharing my face on my fashion blog's Instagram is that I wanted my identity to be fairly low key, and then WHAM it's selfie central.Can you say cross content contamination?

I @ the wrong person on Twitter when doing a guest blog post, and had to have the awkward"sorry I wasn't talking to you" explanation.How do you explain to someone you didn't mean to be social with them on social media without sounding like a dingbat?Let me know when you find out please!

There you have it, these are my 4 blogger bloopers that I'm willing to admit have happened to me! Let me know in the comment section if you've ever faced any accidental blogging embarrassment, we can look ridiculous together, it takes the sting out.

You know that moment when your cell phone,laptop,iPod or MP3 player and tablet all need to be charged at the same time and you can't use any of them.I never realized just how much panic ensues for some people when they can't get to their phone or computer in enough time.For some people their entire businesses thrive off of the internet so I can understand their anxiety,unfortunately that's not always the case for a lot of people.Some people actually face social media withdrawal.Being agitated and threatening people(and sometimes things) over a lack of WiFi is funny if you're joking-and downright disturbing if you're not.

Personally,I've gone a few days not using my phone,laptop or even my iPod simply because I felt a need to be disconnected.As a blogger you'd think I'd have a panic attack without the internet but I was perfectly okay.If I felt the need to log something I'd write it down in a notebook, and then it hit me...have notebooks become obsolete?

In my world notebooks will always have a purpose that ranks right along with important things like a roof over your head, a bed, air.I couldn't fathom the possibility that their are people out there who have forsaken the notebook.There are so many notepad apps on pretty much...everything digital, has this caused the original pencil and paper to go extinct?I admit, I use the notepad app but that's only when I don't have a notebook around.

Is my love of notebooks normal, or am I unknowingly participating in hipster-like behavior right now?Am I that out of the loop?Let me know in the comments do you still use Ye Old Notebook or am I sounding like an old-timer to you?

How do I get around these stifling challenges so I can get back to producing some enjoyable content that you can connect with?The best way for me to get out of hiatus hell is to interview myself. Asking questions about the root of the issue is the best way to start hacking at it, let me go get the ax(metaphorically of course).

My writer's block is a result of low self-esteem and the reason my self-esteem isn't so high is because life is kicking my ass.Life is kicking my ass because it seems everything I've attempted has failed in one way or another.From getting into schools that I wanted to go to but having to leave due to financial issues, my heart was broken, I could feel the pain hanging in my chest and legitimately had no clue what to do with it.There are many posts written about what to do when you get kicked out the school of your choice or if you don't get in at all, but no one really has tips for when you have to leave a school due to financial problems.I feel like I'm still caught up on that heart break of having to leave the school of my choice and that's because I don't know how to move on(hence all this creative and life blockage).

In the midst of trying to dig myself out of financial and school related setbacks, I forgot about my blog.I don't think a lot of people realize how hard it can be for a blogger facing a personal setback to still turn around and create content without sounding like they're looking for pity.I don't like writing sad posts they're not productive. I spent the last year and a half being miserable which is why there hasn't been as many new posts as it usually would be.

Now that I've been honest with myself and with you, what's the next step?Where do I go from here with this platform?

Delete it and come back when I'm in a better place?

Leave it up and hope someone gets something worthwhile out of it?

Do I accept the responsibility of a life style blogger and blog about my life whether it be ugly,pretty or a solid 5 on the hot or not scale?

I think I'm going with no.3. It would be easy for me to quit on this blog altogether, but 2 years ago I decided to dedicate a portion of my life to this little sphere and it's become my baby.I can't quit on my baby just because it's going through the terrible 2s.

ShareThis

About Me

Test Title 2

The Faves

I need to write something.Anything.All my thoughts and ideas appeared to be hiding from me in the darkness of my writing insecurities.I...

All images on deejayspeaks.blogspot.com are readily available on the internet and believe to be in public domain. Images posted are believed to be published according to the U.S Copyright Fair Use Act(title 17, U.S. Code.).

All images of me have been taken by me, if you decided to use them please link them back to my blog.